ARKANSAS-BOSTON MOUNTAINS CHAPTER NATIONAL RAILWAY HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Chapter No. 188 founded in 1987

2013 DIRECTORY OF OFFICERS

President Bob Stark

Vice President Al Kaeppel

Secretary Malcolm Cleaveland

Treasurer Tom Duggan

Program Director open

National Director Ken Eddy

Board Director Larry Cain

Editor Bill Merrifield

Our website address is www.arkrailfan.com

NRHS Chapter meets at 6:00 PM, December 18, 2014 at the A&M depot.

The Christmas Dinner Train leaves promptly at 6:30.

The Scrambler

Volume 28, No. 4 December, 2014

Monthly Newsletter of the

Arkansas-Boston Mountains Chapter, National Railway Historical Society

CHAPTER MINUTES

Meeting of the Arkansas-Boston Mtn. Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society at the Shiloh Muse-

um, Springdale, AR. November 20, 2014. Meeting was called to order at 7:03 PM by the President, Bob Stark.

18 members attended and no guests. Minutes of the October meeting were approved with one correction: The

V-P, Al Kaeppel, was present at the October meeting, not absent as reported.

Chuck Girard, in charge of local membership, reported that he has been unable to get any response out of Na-

tional, despite repeated efforts. He cannot update membership information and no dues notices have been

forthcoming. Ken Eddy, the National Rep, said that dues notices will be out "shortly". The delay is not good,

given the organization's financial problems.

Tom Duggan, the Treasurer, reported that we have $12,099.98 in our accounts. He sold $33 of merchandise on

E-Bay and thanked Dick Hovey who generously replenished our supply of CD-ROMs during the NRHS Con-

vention.

Old Business: The Children's Train Party is Saturday, December 6 at the A&M Depot. We will setup the usu-

al "Engineer's" layout and possibly another. There have been some changes - the first train will leave at

8:00AM instead of 9:00, so the V-P wants the setup crew to be there by 7:30 instead of 8:00. The last train will

run at 3:00PM instead of 6:00. A signup sheet was passed around for the changed times. The Christmas party

is the third Thursday in December. We will make arrangements to transport those members with disabilities if

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they want to attend. Attendees should be there by 6:00PM, boarding will commence shortly thereafter. Only

19 people have signed up so far. It was suggested that we should invite the mayors of Springdale, Rogers, etc.

The Annual Preservation Award was voted on; contenders were the St. Joe, Hugo (OK), Van Buren and

Wheaton (MO) depots and the Ft. Smith Trolley Museum. The St. Joe Depot won. It was proposed that we

invite the Mayor of St. Joe to go on the Christmas train and present the award at that time.

New Business: Mitch Marmel offered to swap out his four layout tables for our four, which is seen as advanta-

geous. Accepted. Tom Duggan presented a program at Hobbs State Park attended by 57 people.

Programs: December-Saturday December 6 Children's Christmas Train, Thursday, December 18 our Christmas

Dinner Train; January-Bob Stark on trip to Pennsylvania; February-Malcolm Cleaveland on the Orient Express

exhibit in Paris; March-Mitch Marmel with some videos he has downloaded; April-Tom Duggan; May-Bob

Stark and Steve Tharp about tracing a bygone rail route.

Train Talk: Al Kaeppel showed a newspaper item from November 6, 1914 about the incredible volume of ap-ples (1,000s of carloads) that were produced by NW Arkansas for national distribution by rail. Steve Tharp said that the Eastern Flyer excursion trains were going to run again from Sepulpa to Midwest City, first trip Dec. 5. Bob Stark showed some photos of the Enterprise, AL depot and Opelika vicinity. Dick Hovey showed photos from Henrietta and Camden, MO, a great railfanning spot (28 trains in less than a day), and also photos of the A&M washout wreck that put two of the three new diesels in the shop. Tom Duggan showed a RR switch lock from the KC & Memphis Rwy. Bill Merrifield showed a new book, Ghost Trains, by our own re-nowned photographer James P. Bell with over 300 B&W photos. $15.95. Malcolm Cleaveland showed his newest production run of Z scale (1:220) shipping containers. Mitch showed an old (1950s?) UP safety film. Malcolm K. Cleaveland, Secretary

LOCALLY ON THE BEAM

Chapter Members,

From our president a follow up from the November meeting:

1. Our nominating committee is working up the candidates for 2015 officers. If you would like to serve in a

leadership position contact Gary, Mitch or Steve. There seemed to be questions about the present leaders not

responding to the members' wishes. Please step forward for 2015 we need you.

2. Lead time is important to a group that meets monthly. An example of this is the planning and discussing the

December Christmas Dinner Train that has been going on for several months. It is difficult to make radical

changes with no membership approval weeks before the event

3. As sponsor of the last three annual history preservation awards, I will go to St. Joe to make the 2014

award presentation.

If a sponsor for the 2015 award steps up then he can make the decision as to when & how the gift is presented.

4. Heads up for our early 2015 activities! New officers may want to change these. Will Malcolm and Mitch

coordinate the February Sugar Creek Train Show and will Jill and Arthur do the same for the August Frisco

Fest?

5. New members: We must work to get new members as many of our group are aging out and it is critical we

get some younger members to carry on! Dispatcher Bob

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Illness overtakes Chapter member Bob Hofer.

We were indeed saddened by the passing of long time Chapter member, Robert (Bob) James Hofer on Novem-

ber 26, 2014 at 10:47 pm at home. Bob, aged 77, was born September 15, 1937 in Aledo, Illinois to Lester

James Hofer and LaJune Longley Hofer, who preceded him in death.

Survivors include his wife, Rose Anne Lee Hofer; three sons, James L. Hofer and wife, Lisa of Shawnee, KS,

John R. Hofer of Tahoe City, CA, Thomas W. Hofer and wife Laura of Santa Barbara, CA; two daughters, Cas-

sandra A. Hofer Christophersen and husband Charles of Springdale, AR, Lisa M. Hofer Furst and husband,

John of Salina, KS; eleven grandchildren.

He was a member of the Lions Clubs International, American Chemical Society, Knights of Columbus, Ameri-

can Diabetes Association, Sigma XI, and the Arkansas-Boston Mountains Chapter of the National Railroad His-

torical Society.

A Mass of the Resurrection was held at St. Bernard’s Catholic Church in Bella Vista on Saturday, December 6,

2014. A Committal service was followed at the Columbarium at St. Bernard’s Catholic Church.

Our hearts indeed go out to Rose Anne and to her family. Bob sustained a remarkable effort to live to the fullest

despite a long term debilitating illness and Rose Anne bravely gave him the very best of love and support.

The cheerful and meaningful support Bob and Rose Anne exhibited together in our Chap-

ter’s activities will long be remembered. Goodbye, Dear Friend! We will see you in

God’s tomorrow. Editor.

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Take time to send a Christmas greeting to Chapter members Bill and Ernestine Ussery who have moved to

Katharine's Place in Springdale. Their new mailing address is as follows: 672 Jones Road, Apt. 118, Springdale,

AR 72762

Christmas Dinner Train: Our annual Chapter Christmas Party will happen on the regular third Thursday meet-

ing night on December 18. Members and guests should arrive at the A&M Depot at 6:00 PM as the train

will depart promptly at 6:30. Our party will take place on the A&M’s recently acquired streamlined dinning

car with its new and handsome interior. The party will feature a tasty supper followed by the traditional selec-

tion and involuntary swapping of presents.

TRAINS FROM MEMORY

Chapter Member John Furlow Stories (as told to Tom Duggan)

After returning from World War II naval service John was a low man in the Frisco seniority system. He worked

as a switchman at Fort Smith and as a brakeman. One day the Master Mechanic at Fort Smith approached John

and offered him a mechanic’s position at Fayette Junction that would be permanent so long as the Master Me-

chanic was at Fort Smith. John was delighted and immediately accepted the offer.

Fayette Junction had two 44-ton “critters”. Unit 1 was a 1942 Davenport-Besler two 360 HP Hercules engines)

and Unit 3 was a 1943 Whitcomb (two 260 HP Caterpillar engines).The engines were popular with manage-

ment as they did not require a fireman. Steam engine 709 was the backup unit. John held the 44 tonners in low

esteem and could not fathom why Frisco management purchased the units.

Fayette Junction’s main task was switching the Bentonville branch. Much of the work involved moving cars to

Rogers where they would be picked up by northbound night freight 730. One day the train was short a brake-

man. John was pressed into service and rode in the caboose. While assisting with the numerous switch moves

there was a breakdown between the engineer and John that resulted in a split switch and no doubt some profane

language.

The Bentonville Branch switch crew knew the seven-mile line like the back of their hand. They noticed that a

mother dog was living under a culvert with her puppies. They mentioned this to John who picked up one of the

puppies and took it home. John was called back into the Navy during the Korean conflict. One day he received

a letter from his mother stating that his big dog had died.

The Master Mechanic at Fort Smith resigned and the next day John completed his service at Fayette Junction. In

any event the days of Fayette Junction were numbered as it was closed down in the summer 1950.

During the Korean Conflict John was called back into naval service. He was later assigned to the USNS Jason

that was undergoing maintenance in San Francisco. John had a shipmate from Los Angeles. They sometimes

would fly down to Los Angeles on the weekend and return by the Southern Pacific’s crack Coast Starlight. One

Sunday night the train’s steam engine suffered a breakdown that caused John and his shipmate to miss the

Monday morning roll call. They were summoned to the Captains Mast for adjudication of their tardy arrival. It

turned out that a number of other shipmates had been on the Coast Starlight that Sunday. John received pun-

ishment of 30 days confinement to the ship.

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Combs, Cass & Eastern Railroad (CC & E) By Tom Duggan

Mary Brennan , Staff Archeologist for the Western Division of the Ozark/ St Francis National Forest called me

recently to assist with a video project led by a student at the College of The Ozarks. He had decided to film a

portion of the relatively obscure CC& E. The railroad, the highest in Arkansas, operated from 1912 to about

1928 as a standard-gauge that hauled huge quantities of mainly white and red oak logs that were turned over to

the Frisco at Combs on the St. Paul Branch. The object of the student’s interest was the beautifully preserved

wye.

We used a Forest Service four wheel drive crew cab to find the wye that was probably built about 1917. Prior to

its construction, the engineer faced a slow backward trip of fifteen miles which included four large wooden tres-

tles. The wye was very well preserved and has escaped the attention of the four wheeler crowd that cause ero-

sion.

Larry Cain and I had last visited the site on a beautiful April day in 2012. As we approached the wye area on an

overcast November, 2014, day I became completely disoriented. I could not find the wye because large tracts of

land had been logged. Everything that should have been dark was light and bulldozed roads added to my confu-

sion. We were unable to find the star of the video and I felt more than embarrassed.

Our young driver, Tristan, got out and began exploring. I walked up the remnants of the roadbed (there were

numerous cinders where the engines rested so many years ago) and tried to avoid the jumbo size potholes. Soon

Tristan called out that he had discovered the wye. We both made our way through the brush to the wye and dis-

covered that the areas to the right and left of it had been logged. Incidentally, the Ozark National Forest, which

relies heavily on logging income to cover its operating budget, has a special system of marks designed to pre-

vent loggers from “accidentally” cutting down trees in sensitive areas.

The wye was a triangular track structure. One leg is the CC & E mainline, another leg extended 700 feet, and

the third leg was 607 feet long. The tail of the wye was 93 feet long and stood about 15 feet above the forest

floor. A hunter had built a rock chair at the end of the tail that gave him a superb 180 degree view of any deer,

turkeys or bears. Near the start of the tail was a curved rock-wall structure in very good condition. Chapter

member Fred Lewis said it was a cinder pit where the engineer would dump cinders while waiting between

moves.

I noticed that the tail of the wye had a number of eight inch or more diameter trees that were growing on the

wye. If these trees fell they would create open areas that would permit rain to erode the carefully built structure.

Archeologist Mary Brennan agreed with my observation and will have a special Forest Service team hand prune

the area. I was very relieved as the wye, while not a tourist stop in the National Forest, does deserve to be pro-

tected for future generations.

Larry Cain and I have discussed a spring 2015 Chapter excursion that would include the wye and the 2.5 mile

1922 extension linking High Cass and Cass. The extension has two switchbacks as it descends 500 feet in alti-

tude from High Cass to Cass.

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Larry Cain and others stand above the curved rock-wall struc-

ture identified as a cinder pit in this 1998 photo.

Track chart of the

Combs, Cass & East-

ern Railroad as of June

30, 1918.showing the

wye. The center line

shows the track while

the outer line denotes

the end of the right-of-

way.

The CC& E passed

through Ozark Nation-

al Forest property as

well as land grant

property owned by a

successor to the Little

Rock & Fort Smith

Forest Railway.

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View of Wye Tail

About 1920 the railroad bought

obsolete Fort Smith horse drawn

trolley No. 10. It was modified by

the addition of two engines (per-

haps one for each direction) and

used to carry passengers. Several

of the individuals I interviewed in

1996 recalled the fear they felt as

the car crossed the four high tres-

tles.

The car body was later bought by

Eli Turner of nearby Turner’s

Bend who used it at his gasoline

station-grocery store..

The car went to the Fort Smith

Trolley Museum about 1990

where it awaits restoration at a

future date.

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Former Frisco No. 347 was the CCE’s sole engine. The Baldwin

2-6-0 dated to 1892 and was a coal burner.

Note the complete absence of spark abatement devices on an

engine that still retains its Frisco logo number plate.

This section of roadbed (near High Cass) was built through solid rock that

required extensive blasting. The careful observer can find bitumen coated

25 pound blasting cans (Tom Duggan 1996 photo).